Am-ch-Hi .... Engagement Story :)

No, it is not an extraordinary tale. No, it is not very bollywood-y either.
And no we did not elope in order to conquer our love😆 [ ......Ok,we did talk about running away couple of times when our parents were still in the phase of analyzing if this was "THERISHTA"😀 ]

But, it is worth sharing with our readers. So here it is.....

Rewinding two months back from the engagement, we met via Loksatta Matrimonial Ad. Yep, as cliche as it gets my parents had "advertised" me (my profile) in a very popular marathi newspaper to which my father-in-law (FIL) had reverted and my mother had acted upon by enforcing "the स्थळ evaluation process".

Those who are not aware about this process let me give you a quick summary from start-to-finish.

Promote the Candidate by

looks obviously😡

works at

earns this much

stays here

Find a Candidate for the Candidate via those powerful networking skills which will embarrass Facebook too.

Once suitable candidate is on the radar

Get the birth details

That will determine the horoscope charts

Matchmaking only succeeds if both candidates score 36/36 on the horoscope chart. [Pun Intended]

Then find few references who will allot a character certificate if the candidate is not already procured through a referential source.

The कांदेपोहे Meeting where the candidate get a glimpse of each other if lucky then even chat at a length

The बोलणी where if the candidates agree to matrimony then their elders come together to fix the schedule and budget for the engagement and wedding.

Then the preps and celebration commence. 😆

For us there were no exceptions either. We went through almost all the above steps but were stuck in an infinite loop on criteria number 3. Our parents had consulted not one or two but almost 5-6 horoscope specialist throwing our fate into the probability ratio of 2:3, 3 being on the negative side. Also since we came in touch through a newspaper ad there were no immediate references that could provide us the"स्थळ ऊत्तम आहे " go ahead. Hilarious situation, of course now I can say this, back then both of us were like WTF but we slowly and steadily cleared all the steps. Yupiee

Though there was one more step involved, The Pre-Marriage Medical Examination which was indeed very progressive of our parents. I would recommend it to every couple thinking to tie the knot irrespective if it is a love or an arrange tie-up. These basic medical tests like blood attributes, AIDS test, Thalassemia, Sugar levels, etc. give you an insight of your would-be-partner's physical health. When two strangers decide to spend their entire life together I feel this aspect is necessary in today's fast paced era.

I used to have a handsome job in software sales. Software Sales cycle is quite extensive because it involves steps like Lead generation, Lead Qualification, Requirement Analysis, POC, Documentation, Negotiation & Sale Closed . So after an exhausting POC that is Proof of Concept if the client does like the product & if they are willing to purchase it they give us a basic YES or NO.

For our relationship deal to close we needed that basic YES or NO from our parents so that we could at least know after an exhaustive POC of our horoscopes, medical records, character certificates if we are eligible to be their future DIL or SIL. As every story has a Villain so did we our was Time. Nope not being dramatic. Our love story's villain indeed was time,the unauspicious time, the Pitru Paksha😂 Hindus do not do anything auspicious during this fortnight. It was again a long hiatus before the situation gained momentum. Then during Navratri colors flew right back into our lives and there it was the, BIG YES.

WE (AmHi) were ecstatic, top of the world, etc etc.. so desperate to seal the deal that we said yes to the first muhurat for engagement given by our panditji which was 18th November, 2012. Preps were in full swing. Banquet for the morning ring ceremony to the evening cocktail party was booked and the invitations were sent across. Eve prior to the engagement I had my mehendi ceremony and as a bride with mehndi on I didn't have much tasks to do. I considered to catch on some sleep. And I did sleep for a good two hours only to be woken up by the vibration of my cell phone. I saw it was Am calling, I picked up and he started howling with panic, "I am coming tomorrow and we are getting engaged tomorrow come what may." and in my half sleepy consciousness I said," ya, OK. That is the plan tomorrow duh! He said, OK! and he hung up. I thought probably it might have sunken into him now that he is getting engaged, commitment anxiety or something like that.

Shaking it off I went into the living room where my family members were sitting with blank look on their faces as if lightning had struck down something very hard. Well it had, Maharashtra's Fav leader lost his race against life. YES...!!! 17th November 2012 called the sainiks out thus shutting down everything in Mumbai for the next two days.

Then I realised what Am meant when he called before, I called him up again flustered.
He calmly told me me that he will come to my place with his parents before any chaos starts and WE are exchanging the rings. He did not want anyone to pronounce this as a bad omen and create further complications.

Phir kya... miya biwi razi toh kya karega kazi...

It was a very beautiful ceremony in our humble apartment. I really thank and appreciate our family & friends, who in spite of the political situation in the city, came to bless our relationship. And, that's it we got engaged.